Wanted or Needed
by God of the Night
Summary: Naruto 'Naru' Uzumaki was banished because of her failure to bring back Sasuke. Angered, she vowed to make the village regret abandoning her by promising she would become the most powerful ninja in history. Ten years later, when Konoha pleads for help with the war against Kumo and Iwa, will she comply? Warnings: FemNaruto X Itachi, Strong Smart Naru, and Some Mature Content.
1. Chapter 1

**Wanted or Needed**

**God of the Night**

**Naruto 'Naru' Uzumaki, a girl who devoted her life to protecting her village is betrayed by the very people who inhabit it. She was banished because of her failure to bring back Sasuke. Angered, she vowed to make the village regret abandoning her by promising she would become the most powerful ninja in history. Ten years later, when Konoha pleads for help with the war against Kumo and Iwa, will she comply? **

**Author's Notes:** There will be changes in my story and if you do not like them, do not read. Most importantly, Naruto is female and will be referred to as Naru which is a nickname. Naru is going to be extremely strong, almost godlike, and smart in this fic, but it will not happen immediately. She is also on better terms with the Kyuubi. Akatsuki will not play a major role in this story so Pein will be the real leader, not Madara or Obito who are both dead. So, Tobi will be Tobi, a goofy, stupid character. Orochimaru will also not be a major player in this fanfiction. The story is going to be about war between Kumo and Iwa vs Konoha so expect characters like Bee and A to be slightly evil.

**Prologue**

The tailed beasts are giant monsters, said to be living forms of chakra. They each have a different number of tails ranging from one to nine. The more tails they have the stronger they are. Each of these beasts also has a special, unique power. Sometimes, when these beasts are captured and sealed by humans, they give part of their power to their jinchuriki. Ichibi gives his host the ability to control sand. Nibi allows her jinchuriki to call forth the dead. Sanbi gives its jinchuriki an extremely high water affinity that can only be rivaled by the second hokage. Yonbi's host has a lava affinity. Gobi allows his jinchuriki to use crystals. Rokubi gives his host a poison and acid affinity. Nanabi lets its host have control over bugs. Hachibi allows his host to use ink based attacks. Kyuubi, the strongest of all demons, gives his jinchuriki the power to control fire.

Usually, the biju only give their powers when they trust their host like the Hachibi does with Bee or they do it for their own personal reasons like the Ichibi does with Gaara. The Kyuubi, he decided to give his host, Naru Uzumaki, his power when she is banished from the Leaf Village. She was consumed by anger due to her home's betrayal so the Kyuubi thought it would be a good time to gain her trust. Naru was making plans to train in order to become the most powerful shinobi in the world so Kyuubi offered her power. Not his chakra, she had a large enough supply of that on her own, he tendered the ability to harness flames in ways others could only dream about. With his power, she would have most powerful fire affinity known to man, so strong that it could be categorized as a bloodlimit. And she would only grow stronger and stronger.

**Chapter One**

Naru looked back at her home- correction, her former home one last time. The Village Hidden in the Leaves, the village she proudly served as a loyal genin for over a year now, the village she grew up in, and the village she loves- correction, loved. She had loved Konoha and it betrayed her. Her life in the village had never been great, but she made the best of it. Her childhood had been lonely; all the parents of other kids told them to avoid her. As she grew up, she was shunned, ignored, and mistreated for reasons she did not know until she was twelve years old. The day she became a genin, she was informed by the traitor Mizuki that she was the jailor of the strongest demon. Until that day, she had no idea why her life was hell. She would have gone crazy if it had not been for her loved ones. Iruka and the Sandaime were the ones who kept her sane when she was young. The two of them loved the village and were willing to die for it and because of her relationship with them; she grew a similar love and devotion, a love and devotion that the village was not only ungrateful for, but threw back in her face.

Years later, she gained a mother or at least something close to that. Tsunade Senju, a fifty year old woman who still looked great thanks to a genjutsu. The two of them shared a special bond and the older woman cared for her dearly. She was a great role model, arguably. Tsunade was never afraid to say or act how she felt, always yelling at disrespectful ninja and attacking Jiraiya when he was being perverted. Naru believed that Tsunade would protect her because that was what a mother does. Of course the village made it impossible for her mother to protect her.

Naru at least knew that they meant well and they actually cared for her. The same could not be said for the member of Team 7. She thought she could trust them, she thought they were friends, she thought they were the family she never had… But she had been wrong. Kakashi-sensei was not really her sensei. He had thought her nothing during the time that he was her teacher. Instead, he criticized her chakra control and told her to improve it herself. Meanwhile, he trained Sasuke with an obvious favoritism. Kakashi had betrayed her to train Sasuke during the Chunin Exams and thought him the jutsu that almost killed her. But, even worse he had not uttered a word to her since her failed mission to bring Sasuke back, nor did he say anything to Sakura. The pink haired girl was annoying, a fangirl, and useless ninja, yet Naru had considered her a friend. So, she promised her that she would bring Sasuke back. She now regretted doing so. Sakura's vindictive and merciless words hurt her more than she let on.

Flashback

"Sakura, hey, how are you?" Naru smiled at her teammate. She had not seen Sakura since she left for the mission. Her teammate did not even visit her in the hospital. Naru did not mind though, she assumed the girl was at Sasuke's side the entire time considering her huge crush.

"What do you want Naru?" she responded harshly.

"Huh?"

"You promised you would bring him back!" Sakura shouted.

Naru looked down with guilt. It was true, she did not keep her promise which went against her ninja way, but she tried the best she could. She told her teammate this, but Sakura would not listen.

"You tried? Ha! I bet you did." Sakura mocked her in a sarcastic tone. "I guess I should have known that I couldn't count on you. A dead last like you could have never beat Sasuke."

"I'm sorry Sakura, I tried, I really did." Naru's attempt at explaining her reasons went unheard.

"Don't try to explain yourself to me, bitch! You were always jealous that Sasuke was better than you! You probably let him go so you could be the strongest one on the team." Sakura's accusation cut Naru deeply. She almost died trying to bring Sasuke back and Sakura was condemning her of not trying. But she did not have a chance to say anything because Sakura continued, "I wish you left instead of Sasuke. He was an amazing ninja, unlike you. You're just a dead last, a loser."

Ino Yamanaka, who had been there too, finally spoke up. "Sakura, I know you had a crush on Sasuke, but this is going too far. It isn't Naru's fault Sasuke left." Ino defended the blonde girl.

Sakura glared at her friend, "But it is her fault that Sasuke isn't back because she failed the mission. But what can we expect; she is a failure, a failure at being a ninja, a friend, and anything worth my time." She stormed away.

Ino gave Naru an apologetic look. "Ignore her Naru; she doesn't know what she is saying."

"No, I think she does." Naru said despondently, refusing to look Ino in the eye.

Flashback End

Sakura's words changed Naru forever. For the first time in her life, Naru wanted vengeance, true vengeance. The pink haired bimbo never cared about Naru. All she cared about was her precious Sasuke, a boy who did not even acknowledge her existence.

Sasuke Uchiha, the final member of Team 7 and the last person who betrayed her trust. The two of them were friends- no they were more than that. They were best friends and rivals. But, Naru assumed that Sasuke did not feel the same way because he had shoved a Chidori into her chest. He had betrayed her to get power from Orochimaru. This was something Naru did not understand. Sasuke was cherished by the village and was given everything he ever wanted on a silver platter, yet he through it all away. He threw everything they shared away and for that she would not forgive him.

And because he decided to desert, Naru was punished. It was not some light punishment. Because of her failure to retrieve Sasuke, Naru Uzumaki was banished from her home. That was fair right? When someone decides to run away and you are not able to bring them back, it is only fair that you also get kicked out. At least, that was what the council or the Leaf Village thought.

Earlier today, Naru was summoned by the council and they had declared that it was her fault that her comrades were injured, some almost killed, and was liable for not returning Sasuke back to the village. So, they banished her from Konoha thus, ruining her dream of becoming Hokage, taking away from her friends and home, and making her hated by the villagers. She was stripped of her rank as genin of Konoha and forced to give back her headband. Her summoning contract with the toads was also revoked. Jiraiya argued that that was not the council's decision to make, but it was no use. They claimed that the toads were allies on the Leaf and an outsider was not allowed to have the ability to summon them. Tsunade did all she could to defend her, but there was nothing she could do to change the council's decision. Naru would have to leave the village in twenty four hours or be forcibly removed by anbu. Of course, seeing how bad her last few hours in the village were, she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Jiraiya had talked to her after the meeting with the council. He offered to bring her along on his travels and said he would train her, but she refused. Naru did not want to get the man in trouble.

She had left the necklace of the first Hokage as well as a note for Tsunade, but did not physically say goodbye. Naru just couldn't bring herself to do it. She left the moment all her things were packed swearing that she would become the greatest ninja ever and that Konoha would repent exiling her.

**~ God of the Night **

**Hey Fanfictioners, I am an aspiring new writer and this is my first story. This is a story idea I have had for a while and I finally decided to write it. So, please let me know what you think, comment on what you like, leave constructive criticism, or just leave a review because you're awesome. **

**Thanks ~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wanted or Needed**

**God of the Night**

**Naruto 'Naru' Uzumaki, a girl who devoted her life to protecting her village is betrayed by the very people who inhabit it. She was banished because of her failure to bring back Sasuke. Angered, she vowed to make the village regret abandoning her by promising she would become the most powerful ninja in history. Ten years later, when Konoha pleads for help with the war against Kumo and Iwa, will she comply? **

**Author's Notes:** There will be changes in my story and if you do not like them, do not read. Most importantly, Naruto is female and will be referred to as Naru which is a nickname. Naru is going to be extremely strong, almost godlike, and smart in this fic, but it will not happen immediately. She is also on better terms with the Kyuubi. Akatsuki will not play a major role in this story so Pein will be the real leader, not Madara or Obito who are both dead. So, Tobi will be Tobi, a goofy, stupid character. Orochimaru will also not be a major player in this fanfiction. The story is going to be about war between Kumo and Iwa vs Konoha so expect characters like Bee and A to be slightly evil.

**Chapter Two**

For the next three years, Naru trained under Kyuubi's guidance. Surprisingly, the fox was a great teacher, definitely better than Kakashi. She mentioned this once and remembered how the demon angrily retorted by telling her never to compare him to a pathetic, weak, excuse for life again or face eternal torture in the depths of his stomach. Never the less, she had been happy the fox was training her because she was stronger than ever. Kyuubi's gift of fire was as grand as he described. She spent the first year of her banishment training with it alone. Now she had enough mastery over fire to make even Kyuubi compliment her.

She also traveled a lot. The nine tails had been extremely knowledgeable about the ninja world and instructed her on where to go. One of the places she went was Uzushiogakure, home of the Uzumaki clan. The village was abandoned and looked like a war zone, understandable because there had actually been a war. However, the Uzumakis' were seal masters so much on the village was still intact. Naru spent the second year since her banishment in Uzu training in the ways of her clan. They specialized in sealing techniques, water, wind, and lightning elemental jutsu, and a taijutsu style designed for an Uzumaki's high stamina. Naru tested her elemental affinities and found that she had both wind and water. That made three elements, her natural two and the one given to her by the Kyuubi. Learning the manipulation of both elements as well as learning jutsu for both types kept her busy for four to six months. Thanks to shadow clones, she was able to master all she needed in a timely fashion. After she possessed an arsenal of jutsu that satisfied both herself and Kyuubi, she moved on to sealing and taijutsu. Sealing came fairly naturally to her. She seemed to understand and appreciate the art which made it easy to absorb. The taijutsu style, known as Dance of the Storm, was harder to learn seeing as she had never had a taijutsu style. Naru was more of a brawler when she was a Konoha ninja. Changing after so long was difficult. The Dance of the Storm was deliberately set up to only work for Uzumakis or people with insanely high stamina. The style requires high speed and flexibility in order to evade opponents and trier them out. It also needs great strength in order to deliver crushing blows so in only a few good hits, the match would be over. But six months was a long time especially when you are devoted to a cause. Look at Lee for example, his skill in taijutsu changed so drastically during his two year period under Gai's tutelage it was amazing. With no missions to take up any time and shadow clones to help her, Naru was able to get a good grasp of the style.

The third year she spent perfecting all the things she learned so far and bringing her skills to the next level. She learned how to incorporate elemental manipulation into her taijutsu style to make it even better and how to use element together properly. For example, using wind to make fire stronger or using wind to speed up water to make her jutsu more dangerous and powerful. By the time the three years had passed, Naru was easily a highly skilled, jonin level ninja.

It had been three long years since she had been banished. Naru Uzumaki was now a beautiful sixteen year old woman. She had long, silky blonde hair that almost reached her hips. Her sparkling blue eyes looked like stunning sapphires, but if you looked closely you could see the sadness in them. Her sun kissed skin was flawless, with no blemishes or scars. Naru stood five feet four inches tall. She was a bit short, but she had always been petite. She no longer wore her bright orange capris and matching jacket. She was a woman now proudly dressed like one. She also no longer wished to stand out like a sore thumb so she did not wear orange. Currently, she modeled a very dark purple, low cut backless tank top that had a small cape-like flap at the bottom. She also wore tight black yoga pants that stopped at mid-shin length and a pair of black female ninja heels. (Author's Note: Think of Konan's outfit without the Akatsuki cloak.) Naru carried nothing since, as a seal mistress, she was able to seal all her weapons in various locations on her person.

'Do you think I'm ready for this Kyuubi?' Naru questioned the demon via her thoughts.

"There is only one way to find out," the nine tailed fox replied.

Naru Uzumaki knew she could not just train hard and be hailed as the strongest ninja ever to live; she would have to prove her skill. Crazy as it may be, she planned on doing so by taking out the Akatsuki. The group was a threat to her and she would have to deal with them eventually. Instead of patiently waiting for them to strike, she decided to hunt them down. This was a kill two birds with one stone situation because not only would she eliminate the threat Akatsuki posed, but she would make a name for herself because killing S-ranked ninja was not easy. Naru of course knew this which is why she didn't expect to kill the group in one day. Rather, she planned that she would spend the next three to four years accomplishing this task. She would use the time to train more. Kyuubi has been suggesting that she learn to use his chakra. He is being cooperative and on longer influences her, but that does not mean she can use his power easily or without drawbacks. No matter what she learned, Naru knew the basic idea of what she would be doing the next few years.

She started out with, arguably the weakest duo in the Akatsuki club, Sasori and Deidara. The two of them had no teamwork what so ever. In fact, they actually got in each other's' way during the fight. Sasori would try to attack Naru with his puppets, but would have to pull the away at the last second because Deidara decides he wants to throw bombs at her at the same time. Needless to say, Naru defeated the explosive expert with minimum difficulty. She was able, at one point, to get in close range and hit him with a series of hard hits. Naru concluded that the man was only such a high ranking criminal because of his wide range explosives since his taijutsu skills were awful and he had no other ninjutsu. She was able to easily finish off Deidara with a close range wind jutsu, Blade of Wind Barrage. Then, she focused on Sasori. He was more difficult to fight due to his poison, but thanks to all the evasive training she did for the Dance of the Storm, she had no problem avoiding the puppet master's attacks. She used all of her long range ninjutsu to weaken him from a distance. Once she was sure she would defeat him, she moved in closer and imprisoned him with an original Uzumaki seal known as the Fuinjutsu Trap, an unescapably seal that brings the target into a different dimensional space. Naru then stabbed Sasori's heart container with a kunai laced in wind chakra and used a strong fire jutsu to burn his puppet body. Overall, she was extremely proud of herself and got an idea on what she needed to work on.

Naru decided to hunt down Zetsu, the spy of Akatsuki, next. It took four months to finally find him and she was sadly disappointed by his lack of strength. He tried to escape and dodged her attacks, but otherwise did not put up much of a fight. Once, she caught him she was able to kill him with ease.

Naru then spent the next six months honing her skills as a ninja. She decided to perfect the rasengan, the way Jiraiya always talked about, by adding elemental chakra. After some experimenting, she learned wind was the easiest to add in. In one month's time, Naru created a jutsu that she dubbed the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. The next five months were spent researching the remaining members of the S-rank criminal group. Naru learned the strengths and weaknesses of some of the remaining members. She unquestionable knew that defeating those missing ninja would be difficult so she worked on establishing the techniques needed to defeat each Akatsuki member specifically. For instance, her next targets were Kakuzu and Hidan, the immortal pair of Akatsuki, so she trained in extremely destructive jutsu to beat Kakuzu. Because to kill him, you needed to destroy all five of his hearts and a powerful jutsu can do that fairly easily. Hidan on the other hand should not be too difficult. She needed to avoid his scythe to avoid his curse jutsu and that she could do easily. Hidan was a true immortal, but if Naru damaged his body to the point that he was in pieces and could not fight back he would pose no threat. So, she needed a couple explosive jutsu and fighting the zombie combo would be possible.

She was right because Naru she was able to kill two more Akatsuki members. She unveiled her latest jutsu masterpiece, the Rasenshuriken against Kakuzu and was able to destroy four out of five hearts, plus she injured him to the point where he was now useless in battle. So, she focused solely on Hidan. She was able to avoid his rampage with his scythe and disarm him. Once Hidan was weaponless, Naru could fight the Jashin fanatic without any fear. She ended the battle by cutting him up into little pieces using her Razor Wind Jutsu. Then, she burned his body to ash and scattered the ashes with another wind technique. Of course, she didn't forget about Kakuzu, who was lying their bleeding on the ground, probably as good as dead. She stabbed his last heart and cut off his head.

Naru no longer had a job so she did not receive a steady income. Currently, she hunted missing ninja for bounties when she needed money. She killed four Akatsuki members, but she desecrated two of their bodies to the point where she could not receive a reward for killing them. In addition, turning in the bodies proved that she killed the S-ranked missing ninja. This strategy worked out very successfully because she was recently added in the bingo book by Iwa. She ranked an A level ninja and had an approach with caution warning. There was little information under her name and no bounty. Naru was not a missing ninja or a criminal so there was no reason for her to be labeled as a threat, but she was added in the bingo book so Iwa could avoid looking weak.

You see, even though no hidden village would admit it, missing ninja are one way the strength of a village is determined. They are ninja originally from the village so very powerful ones prove that the village produces many good ninja. That is why villages do not pursue their own criminals unless they are real threats. Iwa's kage, Onoki was the teacher of Deidara so he added Naru into the bingo book to avoid looking weak. It would make him and his village looks weak if some failure, no name, banished genin from Konoha was able to defeat an S-ranked ninja from Iwa, one who was personally taught by the third Tsuchikage. So, he added Naru into the bingo book to lessen the denouncement against the Village Hidden in the Rocks. Of course, being added in the bingo book thrilled Naru. It meant that she was on the right track to becoming the most powerful ninja in the world.

She was not put in the bingo book for killing Sasori because Gaara was now the Kazekage and he refused to mark her as a menace. Instead, he sent Naru a thank you note and a warm offer that said she was always welcome in Suna. Kakuzu's village, Takigakure, did not care much about Kakuzu. He was a freak of nature that should have been dead long ago. Yugakure, Hidan's village, was also happy about him being dead because it was no longer a hidden village.

Anyway, Naru knew she was not ready to take out Itachi or Kisame so instead she decided to pursue a new recruit of the organization, Tobi. Tobi was reportedly a childish fool, but he was no pushover. He single handedly defeated and captured the three tailed biju. Apparently, he was a genjutsu specialist, but unfortunately for him, Naru was immune to genjutsu thanks to the Kyuubi. The demon always broke her out of all illusions immediately by using his chakra to disrupt the flow of the caster's chakra. His chakra was potent enough to break out of any genjutsu including Tsukuyomi, the unbreakable genjutsu.

Naru's battle with Tobi was actually quite enjoyable, almost like a friendlily spar between two comrades, not that she had any teammates to share this experience with. Tobi's playful attitude and comedic words entertained Naru. Like how he referred to himself in the third person and kept saying he was a good boy. He also called her a very naughty girl, a comment she presumed as him being perverted, so she raged on him in ways only an angry female can. But, soon she came to realize that Tobi was too dumb to mean anything insulting with his comment. In fact, he was too dumb to do anything. Their battle was like a game of cat and mouse, Naru being the cat and Tobi being the mouse since his genjutsu had no effect on her. So, the idiot spent majority of their battle running around with his hands flopping above his head. Eventually, he tripped and hit his head on a rock, knocking him unconscious. Naru was somewhat disappointed by the outcome of their fight. She wondered how such a person was accepted into Akatsuki before she killed him with a slit of the throat.

One year later, after lots more training, Naru was confident that she was an S-ranked ninja and ready to take on Itachi and Kisame. So she decided to seek them out and that would be the day her life would change forever.

**~ God of the Night **

**Hey guys, I am thrilled to see how this story is turning out. I have gotten an amazing 15 reviews and over 600 views. I hope to keep up this streak so review. **

**I just want to point out that my chapters will not be very long, each ranging from one to three thousand words. Also, the next few chapters will be similar to this; they will have more background than actual content. I just wanted to let you know that the story will be developing slowly.**

**Thanks ~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wanted or Needed**

**God of the Night**

**Naruto 'Naru' Uzumaki, a girl who devoted her life to protecting her village is betrayed by the very people who inhabit it. She was banished because of her failure to bring back Sasuke. Angered, she vowed to make the village regret abandoning her by promising she would become the most powerful ninja in history. Ten years later, when Konoha pleads for help with the war against Kumo and Iwa, will she comply? **

**Author's Notes:** There will be changes in my story and if you do not like them, do not read. Most importantly, Naruto is female and will be referred to as Naru which is a nickname. Naru is going to be extremely strong, almost godlike, and smart in this fic, but it will not happen immediately. She is also on better terms with the Kyuubi. Akatsuki will not play a major role in this story so Pein will be the real leader, not Madara or Obito who are both dead. So, Tobi will be Tobi, a goofy, stupid character. Orochimaru will also not be a major player in this fanfiction. The story is going to be about war between Kumo and Iwa vs Konoha so expect characters like Bee and A to be slightly evil.

**Chapter Three**

Naru got extremely lucky because the day she confronted the Akatsuki duo was the day after they gotten in a major battle so Itachi was not at his best because he had overused his Mangekyo Sharingan. She made a shadow clone to distract the Uchiha who was not able to fight back while the real Naru fought Kisame. The shark like man was a challenging opponent. His large chakra supply, great brute strength, and chakra eating sword made him an admirable foe. Naru chose to use her fire control to defeat him because her mastery over the element was so high that it would either nullify or overpower the water. Kisame used his Exploding Water Shockwave to flood the battle ground, but Naru evaporated the liquid using her fire. Their battle consisted of Naru attacking from long range while Kisame tried to get in close. Of course, he did not succeed or Naru most likely would not have survived especially after he merged with his sword. Naru was forced to use her new jutsu, one she was saving for the Akatsuki leader. It was a jutsu that she based on the Yondaime Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique. She called it the Heavenly Step. Naru tried to recreate her hero's jutsu because of its immense usefulness so she began studying seals more thoroughly. However, instead of creating away to teleport from one place to another, she came across a method that allowed her to manipulate space to travel through different dimensions. There are two ways her jutsu works. One is a literal travel through space in which she enters a black hole and comes out of another, but this way is not fast enough to be practical in battle. So, Naru was forced to create a different version of the technique. The second involves setting a seal on the battlefield. Once placed, she can travel anywhere within the seal's boundaries faster than most ninja could dream of travelling. From what she knew, it was not on par with the Fourth Hokage's jutsu, but it definitely was with that of the Fourth Raikage's, who was renowned as the fastest man alive.

So, Naru used her Heavenly Step to attack Kisame from behind with a Rasenshuriken. This was able to subdue him, but at the cost of diminishing her strength. Kisame had not only landed numerous solid blows, but stole lots of her chakra so using her wind rasengan left her stores at a dangerous low. But, she wouldn't get another chance like this to take out Itachi so she foolishly decided to keep fighting.

Itachi was "fighting" Naru's shadow clones when she approached him. "Fighting," meaning he was constantly knocking out clones with simple hits as the dubbed, leader of the clones, kept spamming out more. Nevertheless, he was considerably weak from yesterday's fight so he was not in a condition to continue much longer thus making him slightly irked when the real Naru showed up. Lucky for him, she was in a worse state than he was. He starred at the woman as she stood before him in her fighting stance. It looked as if she was standing from sheer willpower alone. Seeing this Itachi had one thought in his mind, 'This is the perfect time…'

The Uchiha dispersed into a flock of ravens. Naru looked around frantically. She couldn't let him escape; this was the perfect time to kill him. And that was the last thought she had before Itachi Uchiha materialized behind her and knocked her out with a swift chop to the neck.

Naru awoke on a lumpy mattress in a small unknown room feeling like hell. "Ah," she groaned as she rubbed the back of her neck to sooth the pain. She looked around. The room was supplied with basic furniture, a bed and a nightstand, had no windows, and looked like it was made of thick, concrete bricks. It was most likely some bunker in an Akatsuki hideout she thought. "I need to escape," she tried to get up but found her movements sluggish. She was still recovering from her battle. It most likely had only been a couple hours since her fight with Kisame and Itachi. She managed to make it out the door and out into the hallway before collapsing against a wall. Naru tried to get up, but was too tired. She heard footsteps coming towards her and summoned a kunai from one of her seals using the very little chakra she had.

"No need for that no one is going to hurt you."

The blonde looked up to see Itachi Uchiha standing a few feet away and threw the kunai with all the strength she could muster. In spite of the, he easily dodged the projectile. Looking at the knife imbedded in the wall, he sighed. "I'm going to have to fix that you know." He muttered as he picked her up off the ground bridal style.

"Let go of me!" Naru slapped his chest but the man disregarded attacks. "I said let go!" This time, he obliged by gently placing her down on a sofa. "Where am I?"

"In an old Uchiha hideout," Itachi walked to the kitchen and grabbed a steaming pot. "You're in luck, I just finished dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Naru stubbornly asserted only to be embarrassed when her stomach growls.

Itachi used the classic Uchiha "hn" to reply as her poured some soup into a bowl for her. He held a spoon of the delicious smelling broth in front of her face. She starred at him for a moment before accepting the fact that she needed to be fed and ate the food. Before long, the woman was done, "Thank you," she said softly with look her captor in the eyes.

"No problem," Itachi said as he began eating himself. "I love cooking. This soup is my mother's recipe. She used to make it for me whenever I came back from a difficult mission. I found that it always manages to reenergizes me no matter how weak I am."

"Why are you helping me?" the blonde asked. "Why feed me and let me rest when you could just extract the Kyuubi and kill me now?"

Itachi stopped eating for a while. Naru could tell that he was not avoiding her question, but pondering on how to answer. "It is a long story" he finally declared.

Naru gave an exaggerated look around, "It's not like I have anywhere to go."

He sighed, "It all started ten years ago, you were about eight years old. The Leaf Village was slowly recovering from the trauma that it had face over the past decade. Unfortunately, the Hokage learned of a two problems that would stop the village's prospering, two problems he could use me to solve. You see, the Sandaime had learned disturbing news of the Uchiha clan planning a coup d'état and the Orochimaru had joined an S-ranked criminal organization whose purposes were not known. The Third wanted to reason with my father, the clan head, but the elders feared that it would not work and wanted me to kill my clan. After much persuasion, they finally convinced the Hokage." Itachi paused almost dramatically, "Later, when I met with the Hokage alone I learned his reasoning. There was new information suggesting that my father and the clan were seriously planning on overthrowing Konoha soon and the Hokage felt the threat should be dealt with. After much pleading, he accepted my request of sparing Sasuke. However, in exchange he changed my assignment. Originally, no one was to know I killed the clan, but by sparing Sasuke that plan was ruined so the Third decided to send me undercover into Akatsuki. At first, it was to spy on and hopefully kill Orochimaru, but once the Sandaime learned what we were doing, hunting jinchuriki, he made my new objective protecting you."

"Protecting me…" Naru looked at him flabbergasted. The evil, merciless killer, Itachi Uchiha, the man that killed his own family and was hunting her down to rip out the Kyuubi and kill her was standing before her saying that he did it all for a mission. "Why should I believe anything you're saying?" she accused. "I mean, if you spared Sasuke out of love, why tell him to kill you? If you are protecting me, why didn't you help me kill Kisame? How come no one knows about this?"

The onyx eyed man looked at her and frowned. He understood it was a flimsy story and was a lot to take in, but he did not have much proof so answering "why?" would be a problem. "I know my word does not mean much to you, but like you said before, you are here instead of having your biju ripped out of you. And as much as you may try to deny it, I have never truly attacked you as a member of Akatsuki, not in the hotel room a few years back, nor yesterday. Look at how persistently other members hunted down jinchuriki; don't you find it odd that we never came after you while you were on a mission for Konoha or during the last five years while you were all alone? I have purposefully eluded the group form you with false rumors and news." Itachi explained how he tried his best to keep her safe, but she was still suspicious and he knew that she had every right to be so. "I don't know how well your relationship is with Lady Tsunade currently, but she could verify my reasoning. I have been sending her information on Akatsuki movements since she became Hokage."

"I… I haven't spoken to her since I was banished." Naru said sadly.

Itachi's eyes softened with a sympathetic look, "I am truly sorry for the punishment you received due to my little brother. I understand how it feels to be hated by the village you love. You are, in a way, just like me except I am hated and was kicked out as part of a mission and you are hated and kicked out for something you have no control over."

Naru looked at the man. She observed him. His kind, obsidian eyes, jet black hair, and radiant, fair skin gave him a warm, serene vibe, not an intimidating or bloodthirsty feel that you would expect a famous killer to have. It almost made her want to trust him.

"I am also sorry for Sasuke's behavior for it is my fault that he acts this way. You were right to question what I said to Sasuke the day I killed the clan. But, believe me it was not my intention to make him react like he did. I wanted my brother to train hard and grow strong in the village. I wanted him to redeem the Uchiha name. But, instead I did the exact opposite and led him to betray his home for the sake of revenge." Itachi looked ashamed.

"It isn't your fault," Naru sympathized. "You did what you thought was right. Sasuke, he was the one who betrayed the village for power. I'll never understand why. He got everything he ever wanted, personal training, special treatment, and access to the best resources. Yet, that still wasn't enough to satisfy him. Sasuke became a traitor and because of him I was banished from my home. For that I will never forgive him."

"To the point that you hate him?" the Uchiha asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you hate my brother for what he did?" he clarified.

"I don't know. I guess I would have to see him to decide." Naru decided.

"Well, I suggest you prepare yourself to make that decision because Sasuke may begin searching for you." Itachi warned.

"What do you mean?" she asked at his suspicious behavior.

"In order to cut my ties with Akatsuki, I faked my own death by setting up the battlefield from yesterday to look like you killed me." the raven haired man explained.

"What? If Sasuke thinks I killed you, he will try to hunt me down and kill me" Naru exclaimed. Itachi tried to say his brother would not go that far but Naru cut him off, "He will want to kill me to prove that he could have killed you. What were you thinking?"

"It was necessary so we would have the element of surprise when fighting the leader of Akatsuki." Itachi justified.

"We?"

"Yes we, it is my mission to protect you so I will aid you in your fight any way I can. Hopeful I will be of some use."

"That's great the two of us should have any easy time defeating the leader."

"Yes, but unfortunately I might be dead before the battle. You see, I was recently diagnosed with a rare chakra disease that is caused by an overuse of my Mangekyo Sharingan. Add that to the stress and insomnia I have been experiencing from killing my family and being a spy has made my body and mind weak. If I continue my current use of my Sharingan and chakra, I estimate I have a year, maybe two to live." Itachi confessed.

"Oh my god, that is awful. If you have such an illness, why don't you stop using chakra?" Naru questioned.

"I am a ninja, I do what I must to complete my mission even if it means my demise." The Uchiha replied.

"I cannot allow you to die for me. If you can survive by stopping your chakra usage, then do it. I have done well eliminating the Akatsuki so far, go back to Konoha; I will face the leader myself."

"My mission is to protect you and I will accomplish that. Plus, one aspect of my mission was to not return to Konoha. It was never to be made public that the Hokage ordered the massacre of one of its clans. Once the threat of Akatsuki dissolved, I was free to do as I wished." He explained.

"Alright fine, I will accept your help, but not in the fight with the leader. You will share all information you have on the leader and will help train me to defeat him, but only if you promise not to use chakra." Naru negotiated.

Itachi pondered at her offer, "Deal."

And just like that, two unlikely allies were made.

**~ God of the Night **

**Hello, I am back with another chapter. Sorry for making you wait so long, but I was on vacation. So far **_**Wanted or Needed**_** has gotten 30 reviews. I am pleased with this, but I have also gotten about 60 favorites and alerts. Why do so many of you not review, but favorite or alert my story. Just take two extra seconds to say hi or something. **

**On the other hand, the story is developing well. I have already written the next few chapters. I hope to post as often as possible before school starts because after that, I won't be able to write as much. Well, until next time.**

**Thanks ~**


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